Project Story
Forest Lodge Library Expansion – New Library Building Story
The Forest Lodge Library was founded in 1925 by Mary Livingston Griggs in memory of her mother, Mary Steele Livingston. First called The Community House, Mrs. Griggs envisioned and executed a downtown Cable facility that would combine the functions of a library, community meeting center and public rest room.
While the size of the library, at just over 1,000 square feet, has remained unchanged since 1925, the library’s collection of audio/visual and print materials has increased by nearly 2,000 items since 2008. The number of programs offered has doubled in that time frame and the library averages 13,000 visits annually with an average annual circulation of 16,550 library items. Given the space constraints, some library items are stored across the street at the Cable United Church of Christ.
To meet evolving community needs and provide a greater variety of resources and service for patrons, the Forest Lodge Library Board of Trustees decided to explore the possibility of a library expansion and consider possible options for more than 15 years.
When the property adjacent to the library became available in 2016 the Board moved to approve and effect purchase to enable a facility expansion project that could and would include the log cabin. The title to the acquisition property is jointly held by the Towns of Cable and Namakagon on behalf of the Forest Lodge Library.
The library expansion plan development has been a lengthy, thoughtful and inclusive process. The Library Board along with personnel from the Cable Natural History Museum, the Towns of Cable and Namakagon as well as other community members conducted extensive community surveys and were active participants in 2017 Cable Tomorrow Visioning Sessions. Library Board members also interviewed a number of architectural and design/built firms and consulted and visited with other libraries.
In the summer of 2018, the Board of Trustees made the determination to work with Keller Builds out of the Fox Valley, a construction management firm with an on-staff architect. After several detailed meetings with Keller a design that met the major expectations of the Board, Committees and the public was developed. The proposed facility expansion design features a connection between the new expansion and the log cabin. The design concept was presented at two public input sessions in June, 2019, one in Cable, one in Namakagon. The feedback collected was shared with Keller Builds and resulted in revised concept designs. A civil engineering survey addressed drainage and parking issues.
A Needs Projection Study for 2019–2039 completed by the Northern Waters Library Service recommended a facility of nearly 7,000 square feet to adequately serve the population, service needs and circulation volume of the Forest Lodge Library. The initial concept plan was within 300 square feet of this recommendation.
The Forest Lodge Library Board of Trustees and the Katie Flowers Endowment, the fundraising arm of the library, determined, towards the end of 2019, to work with fundraising consultant Baker Street on developing a fundraising plan. Baker Street worked with our Board to develop a fundraising structure with an Executive Board and a Campaign Committee of individuals it was felt could help us reach potential donors in the Cable/Namakagon community. Marketing materials were developed to share with potential donors in what was expected to be the “silent phase” of the campaign; a search for major donors in an effort to secure half of the initial fundraising goal of $2.5 million before a public campaign was launched.
Then came March 2020. The pandemic. Worldwide shut down. The campaign did proceed as planned although it was not possible to schedule in person visits with prospective donors or to offer presentations on the project to assembled groups. Over the next several years the Capital Campaign accrued $600,000 in purchased Naming Opportunities, pledges and outright donations.
As the pandemic years progressed it also came to pass that, with supply chain and associated difficulties, building costs began to spiral upwards and yet show no sign of returning to pre-pandemic levels. In 2022 a Library Expansion Sub-Committee was formed to reconsider the site and floorplan and identify areas and concepts that could be down-sized or re-sized to create a more affordable and, some thought, more sustainable facility for the future of the Forest Lodge Library and the communities it serves. Every aspect of the existing plan was reviewed.
While it was always part of the plan that the existing log cabin library remain an essential and integral part of the library, it was also considered that it might be made available for reservation a portion of the day, so that library could hold its own programming events in that which was once known as The Community House, as well as making that space available to other area non-profits as meeting/presentation space. This decision made it possible to eliminate the community room from the expansion facility plan. The Board spent many hours determining which spaces were essential, how much collection space was required and how best to meet community needs in a considerably smaller facility.2024
In early 2024, the Library Board voted to secure Royal Construction as it’s construction manager and also Westlund Consultancy as it’s architectural firm as it moved forward in building progress. Director Kristine Lendved retired after 15+ years of serving the Cable and Namakagon communities as its Library Director and passed on this important role to the new director, Amanda Westlund.
In the spring of 2024, with the assistance of Westlund Consultancy and Royal Construction, the Forest Lodge Library sent out a Community Input Survey to community members via email, social media, library and town of Cable and Namakagon websites, and the use of a QR code to access the survey that was posted around the communities in order to gather updated input and information from the community on what they felt would be most important for the new library to have in order to best serve the needs of the communities. We had wonderful results with 100 responses to our survey. In understanding our role to serve our communities and its needs, it was important to find out how the community felt about some of the possible changes that needed to happen in the design as we moved forward with Westlund Consultancy as our architect.
The full survey results can be found HERE.
There were many ways in which this survey helped to guide the Design Development Committee – which comprised of three Forest Lodge Library Board members (Carl Lippert, Janis Pribyl, and Jan Berlin), Library Director Amanda Westlund, two community members (Gerry Potter, Kristine Lendved), and representation from the Cable Natural History Museum (Museum Director Rich Jarworski, and/or Museum Board Member Ron Anderson).
One of the major changes that came due to the responses of the survey was that it was clear that we needed to make space for a community meeting area in the new library expansion building. The architect, along with the Design Committee worked together and were able to come up with our current plan that included a large community meeting space that would be accessible not only during the day, but after hours as well, as well as many other important features. This also meant that we would be able to plan to keep some adult fiction and non-fiction materials, as well as the Wisconsin collection, in the log cabin, where comfortable seating could also be added to make the area a space not only for potential meetings, but for patron seating for reading as well.
In October of 2025, the Forest Lodge Library was awarded the Flexible Facilities Grant in the amount of $1.86 million dollars. This was due to the support, assistance, and dedication of our grant writer, Melissa Rabska, and the Town of Cable, who submitted for the grant on the library’s behalf. The Forest Lodge Library is extremely grateful to both Melissa and the Town of Cable for their support and involvement in securing this amazing opportunity.
Also, at this time, the Cable Natural History Museum contacted the Forest Lodge Library to indicate that their future needs for the log cabin needed to be discussed. The museum had informed the Library Board that it also had its growing needs and may need use of the space as well. The discussion of a possible joint use agreement began at that time.
With the discussions being on-going between the library and the museum, and the timeline of the grant moving quickly forward, it was evident that a slight change needed to made to ensure that grant monies would remain intact. Town chair Jamie Holly met with the Library Board to discuss the need to move the building project to a ‘stand alone’ building instead of an ‘expansion’ so as to avoid any complications with grant requirements. The Library Board voted to move forward in this way. In March 2025, a community meeting was held in both Cable and Namakagon to update the communities on this change and to assure our communities that discussion regarding future joint use of the log cabin with the library and the museum would continue and still be a possibility, but the ‘stand alone’ building status was needed at this time to ensure that the library could move forward and meet grant timeline requirements.
In June 2025, a Groundbreaking Ceremony was held. Over 100 people attended. Carl Lippert, Library Board President, gave the introduction and welcomed everyone to the event. Elizabeth Franczyk, Library Board member, gave a message from the Forest Lodge Library Board. Jamie Holly, Town of Cable Chair, and Robert Rasmussen, Town of Namakagon Chair, gave a message from our towns. Sue Rosa, Bayfield County Representative, gave a message from Bayfield County. Cora Parker recited a library poem. Next, there were groups that did the Ceremonial Groundbreaking. Group One was: Amanda Westlund, Library Director; Melissa Rabska, Grant Writer; Sue Rosa, Bayfield County Representative; Tom Westlund, Architect; Jesse Cain, Royal Construction Manager. Group Two was: members of the Forest Lodge Library Board and Katie Flowers Endowment Board of Directors. Group Three was: members of the Town of Cable and Namakagon Board of Supervisors.
In July 2025, construction was underway. Jerome Excavating started off with removing trees from the library property as well as some trees and bushes from the McKinney property that was next door. The empty basement that had been left after the bookhouse had been moved also got properly filled in. Next came digging up the space where the footings and framing would go. Soon after, concrete started getting poured for the footings and base of the building by J&H Concrete.
The new library building plan is approximately 4,500 square feet. The interior floor plan can be found on our website.
The Forest Lodge Library building is owned by the Cable Natural History Museum. The maintenance of the structure and grounds is supported by a fund bestowed by the Mary Livingston Griggs and Mary Griggs Burke Foundation which is held and managed by the Cable Natural History Museum. The Forest Lodge Library currently leases the space from the Cable Natural History Museum on an annual basis. Mary Livingston Griggs and Mary Griggs Burke Foundation Endowment funds were not available to the Library Expansion Project and are not available to the New Library Building Project.
The Forest Lodge Library Board of Trustees and the Cable Natural History Museum’s Board are planning on continued discussions and meetings in regards to the future use of the log cabin and the potential for a ‘shared use’ plan between the library and the museum. As always, any public library meeting is open for the public to attend, in accordance with Wisconsin State Statutes. When meetings are planned between the library and the museum, they will be posted.